After finding herself in a scoring slump over her squad’s last stretch of games, graduate student Paige Bueckers found her rhythm again during the UConn Women’s Basketball team’s 79-44 win over the Georgetown Hoyas on Sunday afternoon.
In the Huskies Big East opener, Bueckers finished the game with 24 points, was 11-16 from the field and notched two rebounds and two blocks, a season high for the Minnesota native.
“I think she did today what I wanted to do more of, just take that little pull up coming off those screens and handoffs.” Head coach Geno Auriemma said on Bueckers’ performance. “I thought today, she didn’t over, over, penetrate and put herself in a problem situation.”
Despite a slow start with the Huskies and Hoyas trading baskets back and forth in the beginning moments of the first quarter, Bueckers and freshman Sarah Strong kept the UConn in the lead.
Strong attained a career-high of 14 rebounds and 17 points, racking up another double-double to add to her freshman year resume.
“She has this like poker face to her, where nothing affects her.” Bueckers said on her underclassmen counterpart, Strong and how well she keeps her composure. “You can never see on her face whatever she’s feeling in that moment.”
Throughout most of the game, Connecticut dominated with Auriemma sticking with his small lineup.
One of those players on the roster was freshman Morgan Cheli who had a breakout game with five points and five rebounds as Auriemma used her in alteration of Ice Brady and Jana El Alfy under the basket.
“I thought she did what she normally does when she’s at practice, and that is that she’s able to impact the game.” Auriemma said of the guard. “Her activity levels are what I really like, and it forces the other team to have to defend a different kind of player than Jana [El Alfy] and Ice [Brady], so it serves a lot of purpose.”
Bueckers touched to media personnel saying she’s a versatile player that can play any position from one through five. “That’s a real game changer when in terms of what we can run, how we can switch up our defense or offense. But I think Morgan’s just great at adapting to whatever role and whatever position she has to play out on the floor.”
Connecticut maintained steady defense leading by 21 points heading into the first half
Heading into this matchup with a 21.1 point per game average, the Huskies kept the Hoya’s star player, graduate student Kelsey Ranson to seven points and only 2-9 from the field.
“We’re trying to make a point that players are much, much easier to guard when they don’t have the ball, then after they get it, especially good offensive players.” Auriemma said on guarding sharp shooters like Ransom. “So, the focus was limiting how many touches and then having a pretty good idea of where she wanted to go, and making sure that we had the right coverage, which we did do such a great job of that in our previous game.”
Auriemma emphasized that he was happy with the way Kaitlyn Chen and KK Arnold guarded Ransom stating that they did a “terrific job.”
After Connecticut’s tough 79-68 loss over No. 8 Notre Dame on Wednesday night, the team looks at this win as a pivotal confidence booster as they head into their toughest matchups of the month against No. 3 Iowa State and No. 5 USC this upcoming week.
“Every game is different. Every team poses a different problem.” Auriemma said to the media, stating that it’s about each playing imposing their will and seeing what they can limit on both ends of the court. “So, how we prepare for them [Iowa State] will probably have to be different than how we prepare for the USC game.”
Next up the Huskies will travel to Mohegan Sun Arena to take part in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase and will face Iowa State on Tuesday with a tip-off scheduled for 8:30 p.m. If Husky fans cannot make it to the game, they can tune in on FS1.